Assyrian people are the indigenous people of the region. They are the founders of the first civilization in Mesopotamian who endured several massacres and continued persecution until this present time. It is an open wound from the genocide of 1915 that continues to bleed at the hands of our oppressors; the Turkish state which recently confiscated our churches, monasteries, and cemeteries.

As Assyrian organizations in the United States; we appeal to our government, the United Nations, the European Union and all international institutions and Human Rights Organizations to demand that Turkey stops this policy of religious and ethnic intolerance and immediately return the monasteries and churches to their rightful owners.